Al Qaeda Calls for Attacks in U.S.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is calling for small-scale attacks inside the U.S. A few attacks “here and there” would “bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security,” he said in a speech released online a day after the September 11 anniversary. Meanwhile in Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan forces defended the American Consulate against an attack by Taliban insurgents in the usually peaceful city of Herat. Two Afghan police and one guard along with seven of the insurgents were killed in the attack, which started in the early morning with at least one suicide bomb that breached the perimeter and led to a gunfight.